


Silence

by orphan_account



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: BASICALLY I LOVE KAZUTO AND SUGUHA BONDING, Family Bonding, Gen, Kirito feels guilty about the rift between him and Suguha, Only actual characters in this fic are Kazuto & Suguha & Midori, PLATONIC KIRISUGU, Traumatized Kazuto Kirigaya, YOU GUYS CAN FIGHT ME, everyone else is referenced - Freeform, idk i love using his real name, kazusugu?, mute character, not ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 17:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21039959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kazuto doesn't speak after he wakes up from SAO. His first words are to Suguha, and he finally admits what he has been harboring for years.





	Silence

**Author's Note:**

> *screams* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“Kazuto…?"

Pushing open the door with her shoulder, Suguha walked in with a bowl of soup in her left hand, and a water bottle in her right. It had been three days since Kazuto returned home. And it had been 10 since he woke up from the nightmare that had been SAO.

There was nothing out of him except the name Asuna. The doctors had said that his mind and body were still catching up from what had happened to him. He barely acknowledged anyone besides Klien and Agil (Ryoutaru and Andrew, she had to remind herself.), but didn’t even speak to them.

Suguha sat down on the bed gingerly, careful not to spill the soup. Kazuto’s eyes fluttered open after a few moments.

“Up for something to eat?” She murmured.

Kazuto’s body was still frighteningly thin. The doctors pumped him up with as much carbohydrates and fluids as they could, but then told Suguha and Midori that there was nothing they could do. Even his uncle, Minetaka, flew in to try and convince the doctors. There was nothing that could’ve been done.

Suguha shuddered at the sight of her brother’s pale figure, the way his skin completely shows his bones. He’s slept a lot more recently too. In the hospital he had been almost always awake. It had been speculated that maybe he was afraid of falling asleep. Of course, nothing had ever been confirmed.

“Mom made this for you.” She mumbled out, almost completely sure he wouldn’t respond back. Helping him sit up, she handed him a water bottle after opening it.

She went back to the time where Kazuto distanced himself from the rest of the family. Before the entire SAO incident, he was never really much of a talker. The only way you could get him to speak was to talk to him about his current programming projects or what game he was currently playing through. She missed the way his eyes would light up as he tried to explain the specifics of it to Suguha or Midori. Suguha never personally got it, but him and Midori would get into hours’ long conversations about it. And despite not knowing anything about computers in general, she would often go back to the nights where they were all sitting in the living room, Kazuto and Midori engrossed in a conversation about computers while she caught up on the latest Kendo tournaments. She also missed the times where Kazuto would show her how to do a super hard level in a video game. It made her feel closer to him. Letting him invite her to a world nobody else got to see.

She had heard about Asuna. The only thing he had spoken since he woke up from the hell that was Sword Art Online. Both him and Asuna were the reason why they cleared the game 25 floors early. Kikuoka had spoken to her and Midori about how so many people hailed her brother a hero. The one who completed SAO.

Asuna and Kazu-no, Kirito were together in the game. They had a daughter, too, named Yui. One of Asuna’s friends, Rika, had explained to Midori that it was just an AI they found. She looked like she was about to cry when she saw Kazuto. They had told her about how he hadn’t spoken since she woke up, and she just shook her head.

“That sounds like Kiri- sorry, Kazuto. He always bottled up his emotions.. It was hard for even Asuna to get anything out of him.”

Suguha would never admit it, but she loved hearing stories about her brother. How Ryoutarou explained as animatedly as he could about how he met Kirito on the first floor, and how explained the basics to him. Andrew telling Suguha in a booming laugh as Kazuto stumbled into his shop on the 23rd floor, exhausted and asking for a new blade before he collapsed. How Keiko told her in absolute happiness about how he had helped her revive her pet, something she still thanks him for to this day. And even how Rika laughed about how he had went on an adventure with him to forge his new sword.

She could tell Midori enjoyed them too, by the way she always dabbed at her eyes when they finished their stories about him. They also got letters about Kazuto, how he affected them and asking how he was doing.

At the end of one visiting night, before her and Midori were about to go home, she went to go get herself a drink from the vending machine. Kazuto had already fallen asleep, something he rarely did. Before she left, though, she heard Midori mumbling.

"My baby… a hero." She had whispered, before starting to sob. Suguha's heart broke. She had barely seen her mother cry before, and she hated to see it when it did happen. She debated on walking back inside to the main part of the hospital room. But decided that her mom needed space. She had just got back Kazuto too, after all.  
Breaking out of her reverie, she set the bowl on the bedside table and handed him the water bottle. She noticed Kazuto started to breathe heavier, making her worried. She looked up at him, not expecting what was going to happen next.

"S-Su.. gu.. ha…" Kazuto breathed out, his vocal cords distorted from two years of not speaking. He looked straight at Suguha, breathing heavily.

"Sugu..ha."

She teared up as she heard him speak. God, he sounded so different. The last time she had heard his voice was when he just turned 14. Two years ago. And now he was 16.

"Y-Yes?" She stuttered, grasping his hand gently. She gasped as his bony fingers laced around hers.

His dark eyes filled with tears as he looked away, not wanting to look at Suguha. With a small sniffle, he breathed out words that Suguha never expected to hear.

"I-I'm sorry." 

Suguha felt her heart break at those words. One of the first phrases she’s heard him say was “I’m sorry.” She felt so terrible.

“What are you sorry for?”

He didn’t say anything after her question, just leaning into her shoulder and quietly sobbing. Suguha wrapped her arms around his frail form, and tried not to cry

“I’m sorry for… for being such a terrible brother.” He gasped out, straining his voice heavily. Suguha didn’t know the nights he spent in bed in SAO, where he tossed and turned over his relationship with his younger cousin. He knew he used Silica to ease his guilt over it, but it only made him feel worse. And he was so, so tired of feeling guilty. If there was one thing that he had learnt in the past two years, it was that you shouldn’t take life for granted.

“Shhh, you don’t have to be sorry.” Suguha soothed him, rubbing gentle circles onto his back. She bit back the fear she felt as her fingers run over his spine. Kazuto shook his head and continued to speak, ignoring the sparks of pain he felt in his throat.

“No, I do… I just, I didn’t know where I was in relation to you guys… I thought I was an outsider.”

He had this buried between them for years, and he was tired of the rift between them. He wanted to be close with her again. And if that meant he had to bring it up right now, then…

Suguha closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, listening to her brother’s cries. Is this what he felt while he was in SAO? That he felt like he was the one in the wrong?

“No, Kazuto. You’re wrong,” Her voice shook as she spoke those words. She didn’t know what she was gonna say. But she knew what she wanted to convey.

“You aren’t an outsider. We loved you so much, even after you withdrew. We still do.”

Kazuto buried his head further into Suguha’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around her as tight as he could. Sleepiness flooded his system as he listened to Suguha’s words.

“I missed you so much, Kazuto. I’m so glad you’re back with us,”

She hesitated to say the next words out of her mouth, but she doesn’t regret them.

“I love you so much.”

Kazuto felt his eyes well with tears as he hears Suguha’s words, finally feeling like a major weight was off his chest. He knew that a bunch more must be done to repair the rift between them, but at least he knew that Suguha didn’t hate him.

With the pull of sleep dragging his eyes down, he mumbled a quiet “I love you too, Sugu…” before letting himself fade away into the land of unconsciousness.

Suguha felt the familiar well of tears reach her eyes as she felt him fall asleep in her arms. She finally allowed herself to cry, for the first time since he woke up. 

After sitting there for a moment, she sighed and lowered his body back down onto the bed, placing him on his side. Standing up from the bed, she pulled his duvet over his sleeping form and grabbed the soup on the bedside table, making her way to leave.

Sniffling, she spared one last glance at Kazuto before leaving.

Later, once her mom got home, she told Midori about her conversation with Kazuto and they both cried. They were happy to know that Kazuto was trying to make his way back to them.

After that night, he started to speak more to Midori and Suguha. They finally get to see the person he became in SAO. And of course, her and Kazuto mended their relationship.

The biggest step was when he and his friends invited her to see the world they basically grew up in. He was offering her a chance to see him fully. To see the person she wasn’t allowed to see during their childhood. To come into his world like Yui and Asuna were allowed to.

And she gladly accepted.


End file.
